OK, to be harsh I'd give it 5 out of a possible 10. A bit better than I was expecting, but not the stuff of legend. Excited trousers stayed in the wardrobe. Nik came on to introduce the evenings proceedings and gave a bit of background to the original Space Ritual, Bob Calvert, Liquid Len and Barney Bubbles all got name checks and 'spect's. Sorta went downhill from there really!thomas wrote:So was it any good?!
How was the err ahem 'dancing display'?!
2 fella's doing quote Nik "wibbly noises" which was OK but over done IMO, the keyboard had an operator too, seemed superfluous to me, didn't seem to add anything sonically. The guitarist looked and sounded more than a tad under-rehearsed. Drummer was 'ok', didn't over play, just kept it solid. Alan Davey the bassist really was the unsung hero IMO, he gave ALL the cues to the rest of the band (inc.Nik). He REALLY knows Space Ritual (the album) inside out, really impressed with him, his musicianship and attention to detail especially in Lemmy's original bass parts. Respect is due. The Calvert impersonator looked the part but the inter-linking poems were read from a pseudo dusty book and were read in a bit of a 2D cardboard fashion, lacking proper awe/fear/doom-ness. They had another young fella come on to do Brocks vocals,he was good too, knew the parts well and Alan obviously had enough faith in this guys singing to dothe vocal harmonies with him. Hoaxwinds sax player was good too, he only came on at the end. Nik was Nik, (noodlin'!)long solo's that the majority of the band played over instead of supporting or paying attention too for starts/stops/ cues etc etc etc. Alan again tried to keep him reigned in possibly. Wibbly wobbly Stacia-esque 'dancer' natch.
Had to giggle during the into/Countdown, "woooaarrrrhhhh, quad sound system I thought."... the band were blasting away from the FOH PA system and there's this strange effect coming off the walls... it was the fire alarm system going off in sympathy!!! Brill!
The (dayglo coloured) audience were good, about half filled the hall, 300 ish I'd guess.
Glad I went, if only to prove to myself my suspicions were correct, but oh for a highly competent killer line up of mega muso's sympathetic to the special-ness that Space Ritual as an album deserves (IMO). But thats probably me making it into summat it never was intended to be though I get the nagging feeling it'd be sooo much better that way. Hallowed ground? I Dunno.
Good venue, never been there before. Shep's Spitfire in bottles too, whahey.
I do feel a bit smashed today though.
DTB
